How Are You Now?

"There are many ways of peering into life and then responding; and by responding, peering further."

The poems in How Are You Now? peer into life. They "don't try to nail things down." They "pry them loose instead." They question our very foundation, exposing the innate wobbliness of reason, religion, selfhood, purpose. They open up a world of possibilities, explore aging, memory, grief, the reliability of change, the physics of wind, the push and pull of want and need. Christopher A. Taylor finds meaning in the smallest observations: a pink toque, the sound of leaves falling from the trees, a stump in twilight, a woman running for a streetcar, a black lamp, butterflies, and crows.

This poetry collection, organized into six sections-"New World", "A Hollow in the Mind", "The Nub of It", "The Secret of Music", "Into the River", and "How Are You Now?"-will be of interest to anyone who likes contemporary poetry; and some who don't.